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Translation (Mike Tu Awng)
There were Tiger and Nangbya. Tiger and Nangbya were friends. They both agreed to steal cows. Once they agreed, they asked, "When?" They said that livestock traders would come soon. They said, "Let's wait here because it's time for livestock traders to come." While they were waiting, cow-traders were passing by with their cows. Both of them were sneaking and following at the back of them in order to snatch the cows. To be able to steal cows, both of them were spying and listening to them as to what they would say. It was already dark so the livestock traders decided to sleep there for one night. They made a tent with banana leaves. The servants said to their bosses that they should build tents with banana leaves to sleep for a night. They said, "Yes, it's very good." "Tents are built." All tents are roofed with banana leaves "Let's sleep here tonight," they said. At that moment, one boss said, "Alright, now we don't need to worry about anything, "except leak, "Gayun". We just need to worry about 'Gayun'. What he meant was that they should worried about the rain leaking from the roof, but he left out the word rain and only said 'Gayun' which means leak. When he said that they should be worried about 'Gayun', those two who were listening to steal cows were puzzled. They wondered what that 'Gayun' was. They became frightened thinking that 'Gayun' must be something very strong and something which was very scary. They continued, "No matter what, we have decided to steal cows." Even though they said like that, there were frightened of 'Gayun' in the heart. At night they entered into the herd. They both entered and they started patting down the necks of the cows. They agreed that they would get the biggest neck. They knew that the biggest neck is the biggest cow. Nangbya started patting down the necks in the dark. The tiger was walking at the back of the herd. Then, suddenly, Nangbya patted down the neck of the tiger. The tiger did not move when its neck was patted. Nangbya was patting the tiger's neck because he could not see in the dark but tiger thought, "It must be 'Gayun' which they talked about." Nangbya thought, "This cow with this big neck does not even move even though I am patting its neck. This must be 'Gayun'. It did not matter what it was. Nangbya started tying it with a rope. He was tying it very well. Tiger did not know that it was Nangbya who was patting its neck. But tiger thought that it must be 'Gayun' because it dared to pat a tiger's neck. The tiger started to be frightened thinking that it must be 'Gayun' that could even eat cows. The tiger thought, "If I move, 'Gayun' will get worse." The tiger was so scared. Nangbya starting pulling it through night and day. The tiger thought that it was 'Gayun' that was pulling it. So, the tiger kept following the pull. The sword of Nangbya was longer than its cover. The tiger saw that the point of the sword but it was not clear because it was night time. So, the tiger thought it must be 'Gayun' so it kept following it. They got to a certain place. Nangbya did not know that the thing that he was pulling was the tiger, but he thought it was 'Gayun' so it tied it down at a tree. Nangbya tied the tiger at a fig tree and he climbed up to the tree top. He climbed up to the tree top and was sitting there. Then, livestock traders were passing by. The traders asked, "What is over there?" Then, the tiger said, "I was so afraid of 'Gayun'. When the people said like that the tiger was frightened and started struggling to get free. As the rope was very big, the fig tree became bent as the tiger struggled to get free. Thus, it is believed till today that fig trees are bent.
Transcription (Lu Hkawng)
Nangbya wa bai i ya nangbya ndai tsa yam gun ai hpawmi langai hpe masu ai lam. Nangbya wa, nangbya wa mung hto nam de sa na nam de wa nam na lam de wa, mare de wa, hpaw mi langai hte lam kaw hkrum da, hpaw mi langai yi de sa wa, anhte jinghpaw ni gaw moi masha chyawm shagu tsa lu ai re nga moi gaw. Yi hpang shani gaw hpawmi dinggai gaw yi ga saw ai hku nga. Hpawmi jan gaw ga hkyen ai ngu lahpaw lasu dan ai n htu ningwa galaw da ai wan wut da ai wan hpun hta da ai hku re nga, dai shani lu na matu tsa yam gun sa wa. Tsa yam sha gun re di sa wa she nangbya wa hte hkrum da. E tsa ngu, oi nangbya wa ngu nang nre ni ngu re le ngu. Deng nang grai masu chye ai nga, ngai hpe mung masu dan yu rit le, ngai hpe masu dan rit ngu tsun ai da. Nangbya wa gaw e dai ni n mai masu ai lo hkri e dai ni gaw nmai masu ai nhtoi she re ngu taw hpa rai n mai masu ai ngu, hto lamu de yu yu u le dai ni gaw jan hte shata sha hkat ai nhtoi re, dai majaw dai ni gaw kadai n mai masu ai. Jan shata sha hkat ai nhtoi she re ngu, dinggai jan gaw jang dung let kaja wa re kun ngu ning di nga di yu yang ka hte nre pek hte re nga jinghpa lut di tsa yam gaw lut re di hkrai rai ayai mat ai da. Re yangshe dinggai gaw pawt sai hku re nga. Dinggai wa pawt re yang nang gaw ngai hpe jan shata de jan hte shata sha hkat ai nga di masu di ya nye tsa yam yawng ga mat sai nangbya nang gaw ngu pawt ai da. Nangbya wa gaw sha mani let wa mat hka. Nang she ngai hpe masu dan yu ngan e masu ai mung na mayu ai nga di nang tsun ai majaw ngai tsun ai she re nga di nangbya wa gaw mani let wa mat ai da.
Notes:
1. Nang Bya is a popular trickster in Kachin folktales, who are a person or an animal that always lies and teases others. It is known by the names of Nang Bya, Mang Bya, Mawng Byaw, and others depending on dialects and languages.
2. For more stories about Nang Bya, see:
KK1-0027
KK1-0028
KK1-0072
KK1-0233
KK1-0234
KK1-0296
KK1-0297
KK1-0326
KK1-0339
KK1-0364
KK1-0475
KK1-0549
KK1-0640
KK1-0709
KK1-0735
KK1-0973
KK1-1209
KK1-1210
KK1-1286
KK1-1379
KK1-1462
KK1-1711
KK1-1785
KK1-1786
KK1-1788
KK1-1789
KK1-1790
KK1-1791
KK1-1792
KK1-1793
KK1-1794
KK1-1795
KK1-1798
KK1-1855
3. See Kurabe (2018) for a story of Mang Bya.
References
Kurabe, Keita. 2018. A Jinghpaw folktale text: A liar Mang Bya. Journal of Kijutsuken 10: 69-80.
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